Bottemless Darkness
by superstarultra
Summary: Shadows are relatively weak Heartless to defeat, right? Then why are they so frightening when the lights go off? Set during Re: Chain of Memories.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters.**

**A/N: This probably won't make any sense if you haven't played Re: COM. It's mostly based on the map card of the very same name. Other than that, I hope you enjoy this.**

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As Sora looked through his cards to open the door before him, a sense of dread began to stir within his heart. It was starting to become a common occurrence. Ever since he, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy had set foot in Castle Oblivion, danger lurked around every corner.

Whether it was the heartless that awaited on each floor, old adversaries he'd forgotten, or the mysterious black-robed figures who controlled this place, it seemed that the entire universe was dead-set on ending their journey. Even Sora's best friend Riku had clashed with them in one of the castle's hallways, before running off to parts unknown.

But nevertheless they pressed on.

Sora had a forgotten friend trapped in this place, and he was going to find her and rescue Riku if it was the last thing he did. They would go back to Kairi and the islands where they could play together on the beach and watch Namine draw her beautiful pictures. It would be just like the old days before any of this insanity happened...

Quickly snapping out of his daydream, Sora resumed the search in his right pocket.

He and his friends were currently exploring the world called Neverland on the 8th floor and were stowing aboard a pirate ship, which they learned from their new friend, Peter Pan . Never the ones to refuse help to someone, Sora ,Donald, and Goofy had decided to help rescue Peter's friend, a girl named Wendy, who'd been kidnapped by the pirates. Every so often, the ocean waves would crash against the hull and the entire ship would tilt along with it. Needless to say, it made looking for specific cards a bit difficult.

The door barring Sora's path required a card that needed to be a four or higher. Pulling out a handful of red cards, he began look through them to see what would be the perfect choice for them room ahead. That's when a certain card caught his eye.

"Huh? When did I pick this up?" he asked himself.

Right in the center of Sora's map cards was a card he'd just recently picked up, although he didn't even acknowledge its existence until now. The Heartless always tended to drop cards after Sora defeated them and he'd most likely picked it up without even glancing at it.

What attracted his attention to it was the fact that while all his other cards had some sort of picture of a Heartless or an item on them, this card bore no image whatsoever. An empty black space served as its symbol instead.

Removing the card from the pile, Sora saw that it met the door's criteria and held it up. With a flash of light, the card disappeared and the wooden door slowly creaked open before Sora, revealing a glittering wall of light.

_Maybe I should've asked Jiminy what this map card does... _spoke a small voice in the back of Sora's mind. With a hesitant step forward, Sora entered the shining threshold...

...where he was greeted with a very unpleasant surprise.

The room was completely devoid of any light; darkness seemed to fill every square inch of it. Sora could barely see two feet in front of him much less any doors leading the way out of here. The light from the doorway didn't even reach two feet ahead of him. There didn't seem to be any torches or lamps he could cast Fire on either.

And more importantly... where were the Heartless? They were usually ambling about or flitting through the air when he entered a room.

Did this room not have them or were they just hiding in the dark corners biding their time?

Wanting to get this floor over with, Sora began his trek into the room, the door already in his line of sight. Without a visible floor, it seemed almost miles away. He trudged tiredly towards it, the sounds of his shoes thumping along against the wooden floor beneath them. He turned his head this way and that as he walked, trying to see if there was anything lying around.

That's when the boy saw it.

It was off to his right at least fifteen feet away. A pair of haunting yellow eyes rising up from the inky floor like bubbles rising out of a marsh. The eyes stopped their ascent from the floor at three feet. They rocked back in forth spastically in midair as though a child was shaking them about in a tin can. Sora didn't need light to tell what it was. He could already imagine the tiny humanoid body, miniature clawed hands, and the twitching antennas atop its head.

It was a Shadow.

Out of all the Heartless Sora had fought, Shadows were the weakest kinds. They weren't the fastest, or the strongest, or even the smartest of Heartless, if the creatures carried any semblance of intelligence in them. They were almost always flanking their much stronger brothers in combat with their numbers. They were hardly a serious threat on their own accord. Sora must have killed a grand total of at least 500 since his arrival in Castle Oblivion. It wasn't even a real Shadow- just another memory or illusion conjured by this floor.

Then why the heck was he so terrified of it right now?

Sora watched as the Shadow stood there in the darkness, occasionally bobbing its head and body sporadically. It was as if the entire room was looking at him. And without so much of a warning, it scampered towards him. He acted on reflex- swinging the Keyblade over his shoulder in an arc and cleaving it in two. He felt it explode into the dark mist that the Pureblood-types always dissolved away into. Sora let out a sigh of relief and resumed walking...

...only to see four more pairs of yellow eyes gazing at him from afar. They immediately began to scurry towards him like starving rats.

"More of these guys?" Sora said to himself, hefting his Keyblade in front of himself to get rid of the Shadows before they became a further annoyance. The Keyblade-wielder rushed forward to meet his attackers head-on. He sliced one Shadow right down the middle and cast Blizzard on another, reducing it into icy vapors. The other two Heartless, sensing danger, sank into the floor for protection. Sora's breath caught in his throat at the sudden action. Shadows always melded into the ground when they felt threatened. In their puddle-form they were immune to his attacks, but became vulnerable the minute they resumed their normal stance.

But he couldn't even see them now. Their bodies matched perfectly in this murky environment. They might as well have been invisible. And so, Sora was caught off guard when one of the two Shadows surfaced to his left and feinted with its tiny claws.

"Ahh...!" The pain was minor- Sora had suffered far worse injuries than that. He batted the Shadow away and saw its partner in crime leaping at him. He was able to swat it out of midair like a ball. A few quick slashes and the Shadows both fell. Sora wiped the slight perspiration on his forehead off. His heart was beating at a slightly faster rhythm- after all, it _was _what they were after. Sora sighed and started for the door again, Keyblade still in his grip. The second he did, he heard low footsteps behind him. He spun around to see six Shadows dashing towards him like a mob of schoolchildren. Time to get serious.

"Sonic Blade!" Sora shouted, Keyblade held out in front of him like a knight's lance. He tore through several of them and began another run. More of them fell. Sora caught the sight of even more Shadows rising up to take their place. The hairs of the back of his neck stood up. Weak as they were, they were still Heartless; they killed people and were still dangerous no matter what shape or form. Sora mowed them down, too, but saw another group of seven Shadows approaching him. Or was it twelve?

Whatever the number, he could hear their tiny little feet as they scrabbled over to him. He could see and _feel_ their little yellow eyes burning into his body as they stared at him from the darkness.

They were _staring_ at his heart.

That was the sole reason they kept clamoring at him in packs, murderous, lustful intent shining in their beady little eyes, their scrawny black bodies quivering in excitement, and their gnarled claws itching to rip into his chest and snatch his heart away.

They just kept coming. No matter how many spells or techniques Sora used, it seemed to hardly make a dent in their numbers. Two more would just replace the one he cut in half. It was like using a bucket to get rid of a flood.

And they all pounced.

They were all on him now. Pinning his body to the cold floor, scratching at the fabric of his clothes, and rubbing against his exposed flesh with their own slick, oily skin. It felt like being under a mixture of half-alive fish and cockroaches. He tried to throw them all off, but they only dog-piled upon him, adding more weight to his prone form. They'd even knocked the Keyblade from his grip and one was stepping on his neck. Breathing was becoming difficult...

It was then that Sora realized the horrible blunt truth of it all.

He was going to die here.

He would have his heart taken away by these Heartless- make that "Heartless _memories"_- and fade away to join their ranks. He would never see Donald, Goofy, Jiminy, Riku, or the one he swore to protect most of all.... Namine. He had failed them all...

_No..._

_No._

_No!_

_It can't end this way!_

_I have to save her!_

_I made a promise!_

With renewed vigor, Sora summoned the Keyblade to his hand again. He knocked the mass of Shadows of himself, and began to wade through them to the door. As soon as a clear path had been sought, ran to it, dug around in his pocket, and blindly grabbed a blue card from within. He didn't care what kind it was. As the Shadows closed in, he held in up before the door and stepped through it as soon as it began to shine. Sora looked back one last time at a dozen pairs of eyes on his tail and darted completely into the next room.

He braced himself against a barrel to catch his breath. Casting a look back at the door he'd just come through, he shuddered. He prayed he wouldn't have to be doing that again. The feeling of their claws and antennas still tickled his neck, arms, and legs. Looking around, Sora saw that this room had a few Heartless as well, of the Red Nocturne variety. They didn't seem to acknowledge his presence whatsoever.

And so, Sora continued the rest of his adventure through Neverland, and hopefully to the rest of Castle Oblivion to rescue Namine and settle things with Riku.

And throughout the journey, he kept thinking that if he ran into another one of those map cards, it would be _much_ too soon for his nerves to handle.

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**A/N: Is it just me or are the Shadows that show up in the Bottomless Darkness map card incredibly frightening? You can't even see them that well, and they just don't stop coming until you kill a ton of them or you're dead... D8 **

**Read and review, please. I'd love to hear your opinions on my piece. Thank you very much sir or madam. **


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